Purge

Does not go with binge. And he pilots that glorious cycle.

Vehicular awesomeness

So this is Scour, our brave hero's brave mode of transport. Yes, it looks suspiciously like a light cycle from Tron.

But that's okay for now. Do you think Disney would mind terrible copyright infringement? I suspect yes.

And here's Ravage, our glorious heroine's glorious tank. It came out more purple than pink because Photoshop is tricky, but that's okay.

Admittedly, it's not quite as fancy as Scour. But it's fabulous just the same.

New Heroes

So as I've been working and not doing anything productive in the least, my friend and I came up with a sweet superhero story idea. There isn't much to go on right now except for a general idea of powers, and a vague sense of traveling in space and time, and thus far the heroine doesn't even have a name.

But she drives a pink tank and this is what she looks like:

It's not my best digital coloring, but I thought on the whole she turned out nicely. I did the original in marker, but it just didn't scan very well, so then I played with it on the computer.

Also, this.

 Fact: I've decided to call her Crucible. Fact 2: I'm not actually very good with digital flesh. But that's okay. Learning will happen. Fact 3: I'm weirdly pleased with her hair.

mmm...Airships?

So once upon a time I was telling this great bedtime story, and I wanted to make some pictures, so I thought I would make some pictures about it.

First, we have the notorious ship of Black Boots the notorious pirate, called the Quintessence of Dust. Had I just been watching Hamlet? Yes. Did I want a sleek, fancy airship? Yes.

And now we move along to the hero's vessel, the good ship Peregrine. Devon captains her old, slow, rainbow baby with the help of her first mate Slim and various other crew.

Someday I'll properly continue this story.

Spacetimes. Not to be confused with space-time.

This is the revisionist version of my astronaut.

Ringleader. Ringmaster. Ring-around-the-rosie.

I love the circus SO much. I love it so much. I will know I have true love someday when my significant male counterpart takes me to the circus. And he will like it. But not as much as he likes me.

She's not even as scary as I could have made her. She's just cute. But I love fun circuses and scary ones and so maybe someday I'll do a Today I Am Goes Goth. Because that would be kind of sweet.

Because we can.

Or rather, because I can. To celebrate finally ordering business cards with this image on them, I also decided to launch my first shirt.

It was encouraging that people hadn't seen this image, and they thought it was pretty hilarious when they did. So I thought I would put it on a shirt. The end.

The image:

The shirt is at this link: THIS IS THE SHIRT!

We ought to have all different colors of skin. Oh wait.

Because everyone wants to be a pirate

It's nice to imagine, anyway

Why you should take trips to research your ancestors

The eyes have it

So I was messing around today and playing with a pen and some eyeballs. Which can be seen here, amongst other things:

And then I thought I would add to my Today I Am series, so here we have a little jolly lady.

Monsters

So here are some little monsters. They're a little old, but they're nice. I just found them unexpectedly the other day, and thought I would share.

Little sketches

These are all from the green book. I played around with the Ghost's vampire roommate, and added some extra old sketches that I liked. So there.

So that's what. Some little sketches.

Hannah's Ghost Story Part 1

So one night my niece and I stayed up way too late. She scared me, I trapped her in a blanket and held her captive in my legs, and crazy things ensued. But then I got her talking so I would always know where she was in the pitch blackness of my room, and this insane story about a ghost was born.

It began like this: Once upon a time there was a ghost who lived in a house. The end.

Just so you can get a sense for how this is about to go down.

So it's apparently also time for us to get ready for Halloween. Slow down, self, and enjoy summer and sunshine and warm deliciousness.

Making colors the new way

So I did some tinkering in Corel today and as it turns out, it's much easier to color things in than in Photoshop. So that was fun. The end.

[EDIT] So today I decided to do some edits to Girl Number 3, since she didn't feel as finished as the other two. She still isn't very finished, but I'm still lazy, so we'll see if I ever do complete her all the way.

Inks Mark 2

I did this picture after reading all these really good articles about how awesome women are and how objectification ruins lives and stuff, so I was feeling particularly warm and fuzzy about the face, and how individual women are, and how sweet we are, and how we deserve to live in a culture where we're valued for our individuality and awesomeness.

Though mostly I just also wanted to do another ballpoint pen picture.

New store setup

I tried Cafepress, an we had some struggles, so now I'm going to simplify and go to Zazzle. So now there is a store, and it's not so overwhelming--for me, at least, which is half the battle. There's also a neat-o ad for my store in the right-hand column below the links and the loyal fans and all the other stuff in the right-hand column. So you can check that out too.

Someday I will be updating with new projects, I swear. Now I am at home, my trip to Utah having been delightful and not entirely unproductive, and now I will be more awesome. I promise.

Inks

Here are some ballpoint pen drawings I did. You know my love for the ink.

This was a little sketch. I feel like now maybe she ought to have something of a nose, but probably not. Not worth it. I just love lines.

This work was actually originally done right side up, but I prefer the balance of it so much more upside-down that I didn't bother to rotate it. It's funny that her face and shoulder seem so much more balanced in reverse of the way that I did them originally. But there was weirdly some disharmony. It was strange. But I feel good about this solution.

Ah, my love for the ballpoint pen.

More of the Warriors Three

So it's been a while since you heard from me last, but know this: I have been deliciously busy. And by busy I mostly mean partying (Happy Independence Day to America. I had truly a glorious and sweaty time). But I also have been doing some drawings and such.

Here are some concept sketches for Ned. I collected some sweet costumes ideas from Google the other day, and when I wasn't busy being filled with delight at the prospect of so many sweet handmade costumes that real people in the real work make, I was messing around with ways to alter said costumes and make them into sweet forest-wear for our ladies.

Here's a sheet of ideas for Robin, too. I decided for her that instead of doing the normal green and brown color scheme that I would do blue. It just looks so nice. But I thought that bright blue would be in accordance with her nobility, for one, in that she would be fairly accustomed to wearing brighter colors, and I also thought that the bright blue would be a good match for her boldness. It seems to me that she would wear something crazy and sort of impractical for fighting in the woods.

Then I did a torso match-up for all the ladies, mostly so that I could get a feel for the color scheme of all three of them together.

Here's Wil and Ned and Robin together. I think they came together nicely. Robin's outfit is based on a double-breasted fencing doublet, which is definitely a male article of clothing. Ned's is based on a simple wedding dress design that I thought was nice and feminine and medieval-looking. Even though I've shortened everything on all the ladies so they're not actually doing much skirt wearing, I think Ned still looks nice and girly.

Here is Ned, living her life, beside the mill her father and brothers used to own. It's all part of this really nice back story for her, but essentially the mill was burned to the ground and now Ned hates the government.You know, usual Robin Hood stuff.

The sexy boots choice was an obvious one. It's always the obvious choice. If there's an option for boots, they should always then be sexy. Besides, I liked the platforms and heels being pink. They're the same color as her lips, I'll have you notice. Maybe someday she'll get another pink accessory. What can I say? I love pink and green.

That pretty much concludes the Merry Band updates for now. Seriously, if you're ever feeling down, just Google image search "medieval clothing". It'll change your life.

Hair reprise

I know we just did these like, a day ago, but I went up to campus last week and got my hot little hands on a scanner, and so I thought I'd post the more final versions of the pictures I did before.

Someday I'll do pictures of Robin Hood and her faithful sidekick Ned (who's real name is Eleanor, of course). Maybe even someday soon.

I will be glad when I am at home and have access to Photoshop again so I can tweak the colors more. But for now they don't look so bad. It's okay, Wil Scarlet, someday you'll have friends.

To Zazzle, or not to Zazzle?

So I've been trying to figure out a way to market these images I have been making. I tried CafePress because it was familiar and I knew it was free and blah, blah, blah, but I recently discovered a site called Zazzle that does pretty much the same thing. Only I think the products on this site might cost less, and I think the site itself is a little more user-friendly.

So far I don't have much going on, and some of the changes I posted haven't shown yet, but check it out anyway and tell me what you think: This is my Zazzle store.

We'll see how things go with this. Don't forget to tell all your friends what a hilarious and witty and talented and beautiful artist I am, so they will visit my blog and buy my things and make me famous.

Hair with a body!

But only the one body because I haven't done the other two yet. Remember this post? I did some dabbling and did some versions of this character. See, the idea is a Robin Hood story but with all of the main characters' genders reversed. So Robin, and his sidekick, and Will Scarlet, are all in this case ladies. And Marian is a nice man named Arion. And so forth.

So I present for your viewing pleasure, the knife-wielding, booby-trap building Wilamena Scarlet.

This was the first version of Wil. I did it the other day, but I wasn't hugely pleased with it, so I did another version with a modified outfit.

She's essentially the same in both of them, but I find I'm still not completely satisfied. I feel like I wanted an image somewhere between the two, but I can't tell what that would be. It could just be because I haven't had good, solid anatomy practice in a while so my figures are getting all skewampis. We'll say it's that.

Again, pardon the quality. I still have not figured out the greatest and best system for editing yet. Boo, Utah, for depriving me of my usual resources!

The Curious Case of the Floating Head

So because of my anxiety sometimes this thing happens where I get all floaty and detached from my body and it feels very uncomfortable. This state happens periodically, thankfully not terribly often, but it's very bizarre and makes me feel even more awkward and anxious and cranky. But I decided to make a picture about it because that's how I roll. I call this bizarre condition Balloon Head, although in reality it's really my head and my shoulders and most of my ribcage that feel like they're trying to detach from the rest of my body.

It's not the best editing I've ever been able to do, but since I still don't seem to have a scanner and had to do this from a picture I took from my phone, I'd say it's not too bad.

Today I am

I thought it might be fun to do a series of things that I always wanted to be but never will be. Sometimes I get nostalgic for being a kid and knowing that I was going to be whatever the heck I wanted to be when I was old. I was a doctor, I was a dancer, I was a princess, I was the first person on earth to make contact with extra-terrestrial life. I was the archaeologist that discovered the thriving undersea civilization of Atlantis.

Needless to say, I have not done any of those things, and some of them are getting more and more unlikely (though I still have hopes about the Presidency).

So today I am an astronaut. I may not be these things I dreamed of, and still sometimes do, but I most certainly can pretend in a way that is much more socially acceptable at my age than actually pretending.

She's about to have some regrets.

Also for your viewing pleasure (and what is this sentimental kick I'm on today? What's that about? I took my Prozac this morning, right? RIGHT?) I have a little drawing I did this afternoon after I was awake much of the night worrying about my mistakes and fears and things that will set me back in life.

This is not actually very normal for me. Usually I have it more together, in spite of the general dropping-out-of-school and two-prozacs-a-day thing. And last night my worries weren't anything terribly awful--just regular old irresponsible me, putting things off and forgetting about them until they sneak up on me all of a sudden and ruin my night and keep me awake until four-ish. I always remember these things in the middle of the night.

Anywho, I tried to divert my thoughts to something more productive, and came up with this. For all those times you feel this way, I give you my fear.

The moral of the story is that I did it in ballpoint pen and can I just tell you how much I miss that particular medium? I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Ah, the making of marks. How it soothes my brains.

On a similar, but not as personal/sentimental/way-too-much-information note, I also used my pen to do what I do best with pens. I did a zombie. I think she's precious.

This is not necessarily my barbed satire about cheerleaders in general. I mean, I don't particularly have a fondness for them, but this was not a commentary about my dislike for them. I just thought it would be funny.

Beyond the Sea. Or close enough.

Remember how I wanted to make comics that one time? And I thought if I could just do it all my artistic problems would be solved forever?

I was not correct. I drafted page 3 and never did a final copy, and now we're at a standstill. But I'm not ready for Tyro and Jonah to die just yet, especially since poor Jonah never even got a chance to be introduced.

So I give you this picture of them in all their monster-y glory, the mermaid and the vampire, who maybe someday will actually get to be a crime-fighting team. And not just a dream baby I have in my mind that is way too complicated to execute.

Sigh.

It all finally dried.

And it scanned reasonably well. There's a teeny bit of blurring from the 3-D elements, like the pearls in her hair, and all that fun stuff.

I like to think she's trying to be nice, and is reaching out to be his friend. I mean, he clearly is in some kind of distress, but it's hard to say for sure whether her intentions are good or not.

Originally I intended for her to be gazing up at him in adoration, because she'd somehow managed to fall in love with him but he had never noticed. But then it came out this way instead, and I have to say I like the ambiguity a little better.

Maybe someday they'll love each other. I miss mermaids.

Did I maybe go to far?

Mostly, did I definitely end up with too much glitter and baubles?

Methinks no.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dress projects

So these are some of the dress projects I've been working on lately and thought I would share. Since it was too hard to take them on my body, so I used Molly's body instead.

This is Molly. She's the dress form my mom got for Christmas a couple years ago. Once we gave her a name we realized we really ought to start keeping clothes on her, so here she is in an outfit I made out of draping some fabric and an old shirt of my dad's. (My mom says the shirt is to ratty to use for anything, but I disagree. I will find a project for it someday and it will be amazing.)

This is Molly wearing my yellow dress from an older post. Granted, I made mine in coral with white flowers, and the belt isn't attached, but it's more or less the same. I really really love how it turned out.

And, how cool is this? The fabric is totally this old fabric my grandma had laying around when she died and that we sort of inherited (there are perks to living next door to your grandparents, apart from perpetual cookies and being the favorite) when she was gone. I think that's kind of sweet that her fabric lives on in a totally awesome dress that I designed and made myself.

And this is Molly wearing the white dress I modified yesterday while my mom was making me shorts (which are in turquoise gingham seesucker and rust, respectively). I have always loved this cheap little dress, but it has no always loved me. Mostly it was just uncomfortably short all the time, and this bothered me.

So I lengthened it by adding a purple sating ruffle to the lining and huge eyelet lace to the outer layer. I almost died of cuteness when it was done.

I love this so much. It somehow became even more feminine and adorable once the extra bits were added on. Also, why don't we as a society wear more satin? Apart from the fact that it shed all over me as it was unraveling, it was a delicious fabric to work with and I adore how it feels on my skin.

I also added satin and lace to raise the neckline a little bit. So much delicious satin.

And here's a shot of the lace trim on the skirt. Oh how I love it.

Needless to say (I feel like I use that expression a lot. And then I invariably say whatever it was that didn't need saying), I will be taking both of these dresses to Utah. Along with my shorts.